Arkham City Stories
by DarkZero93
Summary: From the POV of the inmates, the events of Arkham City may look a little different. Warning: Spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**(Note: This story occurs during the events of and immediately after Arkham City. There may be spoilers for the game's plot.)**

"Prisoners of Arkham City, you have given up your basic…"

_Someone shut that damn thing off!_ Thought Greg Mathis. He was sick of listening to the loudspeaker that blasted Hugo Strange's messages to the inmates of Arkham City on a minute-by-minute basis.

Greg was one of the inmates that was caught in the middle ground in the turf war that was raging between Penguin, Joker, and Two-Face. Really the battle was between Joker and Penguin with the ex-DA being caught in the middle.

"I hear Two-Face might be makin' another push to take Penguin's territory," said Everett Anderson, another inmate who was standing nearby.

"Already?" asked Greg. "Didn't he learn his lesson last time?"

"Guess not."

Another inmate that Greg didn't know overheard them. "Two-Face oughta give up this fight. There's no way he can pull enough guys together to take this place for himself."

"My money's on the Penguin," Greg said. He paused, then added, "If I had any money."

"Do you think you're tough enough for Two-Face?" said a voice out of a megaphone. "Why don't you head to the courthouse and find out."

It was one of Two-Face's henchmen, spouting off their usual praise for their boss's gang.

"Those outfits look ridiculous," someone said in reference to what the Two-Face gang wore to identify each other.

"Head out to the courthouse right now!" The Two-Face thug said, "and you can catch the trial. Maybe Two-Face will let you join his gang, or maybe he'll split you in half. Either way, you don't want to miss what's going down."

"What's he talkin' about?" Greg asked Bill Garrett, another inmate who was standing nearby.

"I heard Two-Face caught Catwoman," Bill replied.

Someone else laughed. "Maybe we should go check it out. It's better than standing around here, right?"

Greg and the others shrugged and joined the group of inmates that were on their way into the Solomon Wayne Courthouse. A Tyger chopper hovered overhead, with its spotlight focused on the inmates.

No one really paid it any attention.

_Solomon Wayne Courthouse, 7:47 P.M._

"Bring out the defendant!" Two-Face yelled. The curtain that covered Catwoman fell into the acid below.

Greg watched what was happening from the low balcony to the left of the room, but couldn't hear exactly what Catwoman was saying. He saw Two-Face hit her across her face, then a few seconds later he flipped his coin.

"This court is now in session," said Two-Face. The whole court cheered, and they wouldn't stop.

Harvey started calling for order, but no one heard him until he fired his pistol.

"That's more like it," he then said. "Today we present each of you with an exciting new opportunity." He paused. "_Two_ opportunities…to join with us and create a new force in Arkham."

The next thing that happened seemed to unfold in slow motion. A shadow dropped from above and landed on the man holding the knife by the rope that suspended Catwoman.

"Batman," someone said, "he's here!"

The courtroom became a place of panic as most of the inhabitants ran for the doors. A few brave souls chose to stay and fight, but Greg wasn't among them.

Once he was on the outside, he and Bill looked back at the courthouse. "Geez," said Bill breathlessly, "what's Batman doin' in here?"

"No idea, but I'd rather not find out," Greg replied. He noticed the rest of Two-Face's gang in motion, moving to block the door.

**(Note: The story continues in Chapter 2 from a different perspective)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Arkham City Stories-Chapter 2**

**From the personal log of Hugo Strange-**

_With Batman now incarcerated within Arkham City, Protocol 10 will soon commence. It will be a glorious moment, when I, Hugo Strange, will finally show the world how Batman has failed them. They will know what truly lies behind that mask. _

_I have no doubt that Mister Wayne will attempt to halt Protocol 10. I am counting on it…_

**-End of log-**

Matt Ferris watched the Tyger choppers as they flew overhead, their spotlights keeping a vigil over the inmates. At the same time, they had cameras set up along the various walls. What was the point of it?

"The Steel Mill is locked up tight," said one of Joker's crew, of which Matt was a part.

Another one laughed. "There's no way the bat can get in there."

Word had spread around Arkham City that Batman had rescued Catwoman from Two-Face and humiliated him in the process. Then he had supposedly been blown up in the church's bell tower.

"That's assuming he's still alive," Matt said.

"Yeah, I hear Harley Quinn may have actually killed him."

Most of the other inmates scoffed. Then Matt spoke again. "It definitely wasn't her plan…it must have been Joker's."

Another inmate shrugged. "I hear Joker wants us in the Steel Mill. Harley just brought some doctor back. We need to go and see what's going down."

With that they filed back into the Mill, unaware of a shadow gliding just overhead.

"I promised you some entertainment, right boys?" said Harley Quinn from the manager's office of the Steel Mill, in full view of most of the Joker's crew.

"Please," said the doctor next to her, "I did my best."

"Well, you shoulda tried harder!" Harley exclaimed, and then knocked her down to the ground below. She screamed the whole way.

Matt watched from the side as most of the inmates moved in toward the doctor, chanting "kill" over and over again. He shouldered his rifle.

"Oh, I think we can do better than that," Harley said cheerfully. "Get in here, Mister Hammer!"

The Joker's one-armed Russian mercenary came forward, sledgehammer in hand. Matt watched as the doctor tried to avoid his hammer swings. Hammer had her against a wall and was about to finish her when Harley yelled, "Stop!" The inmates jeered.

"Take her to the smelting chamber," Harley added. "Mister J wants this one to suffer a little longer."

Matt looked down at the doctor and grabbed her by her coat, pushing her forward. "You're comin' with us, doc."

The rest of Joker's crew ran off out the main doors, on a search for Mister Freeze under Joker's orders that Harley had just relayed to them.

When they were in the smelting chamber, Matt gave the doctor to some of Joker's other men, and they promptly tied her to a chair. "Keep an eye on her," Matt said.

A few seconds later, they heard a crash of glass.

"What the hell?" said one of the inmates.

"He's here!" Matt yelled. "Don't let him get in!"

The man guarding the doctor looked at her fiercely. "Sounds like someone's come to save you, doc."

"Help me!" She yelled. "Please!"

"Shut it, doc!" the guard yelled. "You're my ticket outta here!"

There was an explosion of smoke and a smacking noise, followed by a scream. Then there was silence.

"Does anyone see him yet?" One of the inmates outside yelled. Matt tentatively walked out of the room.

After a few seconds, Matt yelled, "You okay over there?" There was no answer.

Matt was terrified. His gun was literally shaking in his hands as he thought that the shadows were going to come alive and swallow him whole.

"Leave me the hell alone, Batman!" Matt called to the room. "Please…"

There was a sharp force in his back. He turned to see Batman's cowled face for a split second, and then there was darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part, the Third**

_**Penguin's Museum, 11:37 P.M.**_

Batman had been clearing his way through the museum with little effort so far. Even Tiny, the Penguin's shark, hadn't been able to slow him down. Now it was up to a group of Cobblepot's mercs in the expansive armory to do the job.

"Don't worry, Mister Cobblepot," said Jack Rogel, "Freeze's suit is safe, I'm lookin' at it now."

"_Good," replied Penguin. "Make sure it stays that way. Batman's on the way and the last time I checked…he didn't look very happy."_

"He's not gettin' past me and the boys, sir…the suit is safe."

"_Well you might want to double-check that," Penguin told him, "because you're missing someone."_

Jack looked around. He saw the cops that they had hostage, and the other guys patrolling about the lower sections of the room. Nothing seemed amiss, except…

"Over here, now! I found someone!" one of the guys downstairs yelled. Jack joined the others who ran off to check. Sure enough, there was someone lying unconscious by the north staircase.

"_I'm running out of patience," said Penguin in their comms, "and you're running out of people. Let's see what runs out first!"_

"You heard the Penguin, move it!" Jack told the others. They ran back to where the hostages were and found Luke, one of their military vets who'd been driven over the edge to a life of crime, lying motionless.

Jack checked him. "This is no good, he won't wake up!"

"Leave him," said someone else, "we've got bigger things to worry about."

"What's wrong?" Jack hollered into the room, "too scared to show yourself?" It was false confidence, of course. Batman was playing with them.

_What is he?_ Jack thought. _I've been in situations worse than this, but I was fighting something I could see._

Now, he was fighting a shadow. Probably his own shadow.

Jack swallowed. He turned around and saw nothing but one of the other guys. One of only three left.

Someone screamed. Jack looked up and saw Michael Dobson hanging from one of the room's gargoyles. "How'd you get up there?" Jack asked him.

"Cut me down," said Dobson.

"_This is not makin' me happy," Penguin said angrily. "He's makin' you lot look like a bunch of girls!"_

Jack didn't have the will to respond. He was too focused on trying to find Batman.

"You still there, man?" Jack asked the other guy. There was no response.

_Damn,_ Jack said in his head. _Damn, damn…_

"What the hell are you, Batman?" Jack asked the walls with a loud voice.

"You're finished." Jack jumped, but it was only one of the hostages. "Shut the hell up!" Jack said in reply, but he knew that the cop was right.

Jack started walking slowly, continuing to move around the room. Perhaps he'd be able to make it to the door and…

_No, Penguin would kill me._

The shadows seemed to move every time he looked at them. There was a bang from nearby and Jack fired in the direction with a yell.

"Calm down," he told himself. "You're jumping at shadows." Technically Batman was a shadow, but that didn't make the situation any better.

_This isn't good_, Jack thought.

Then something grabbed him from behind and knocked him out with a single blow.

_**Penguin's Museum (exterior), 10:40 P.M.**_

_**-Earlier-**_

Ty Hess wasn't your average inmate in Arkham City. He had once been a popular welterweight boxer about ten years ago. Due to a few complications with his fellow competitors and the judges, one of his matches had been rigged. Ty had taken his revenge and in the process suffered a few nasty wounds, one of which left a scar on his face and had left him blind in his left eye.

He was one of Penguin's heavy hitters. Ty had personally beaten many of Joker's thugs to a pulp when they caught them.

"Is the clown really dyin'?" said Devon 'Dev' Weltor.

"Sounds like it," Ty replied. "I hope so anyway. Once he's dead, Penguin's gonna make another push and then this town'll be ours."

"I heard Batman took out those jammers that Penguin set up," someone else said.

"Thought you said Batman couldn't get past the jammers," Dev then said in an incredulous tone.

"I did," Ty replied, "I don't know how he did it."

There wasn't much time to think about it as Batman swooped down on them at that moment. He hit Dev with a powerful kick right out of the air. Ty tried to punch him, but Batman grabbed is fist and bent it back painfully. The Bat followed up with a knee to his face.

From on the ground, Ty could still here the sounds of combat as Penguin's men were wiped out by Batman's lightning fast strikes.

_This ain't gonna end well_, thought Ty as he stood up again. He was barely on his feet when Batman twirled into him with his foot. It connected with Ty's head and knocked him out instantly.

_**Tyger Communications-**_

"_Tyger Command, this is AT Two, we have confirmation that Batman is entering the museum, over."_

"_Good," replied Hugo Strange. "Perhaps he is hunting down Mister Cobblepot…we will leave him to his business for now."_

"_Affirmative, Command. AT Two, out."_


	4. Chapter 4

**Part, the Fourth**

_**-Arkham City, 3:03 A.M.**_

-_Tyger Communications_-

"All units, we have confirmation that target is in the Steel Mill. I repeat…Batman is in the Steel Mill."

Hugo Strange laughed. "Good. Protocol Ten shall wipe both Batman and the Joker from this earth."

"All systems are go."

"Then let Protocol Ten commence," said Strange defiantly.

"Affirmative. Commencing in three…two…one…"

-_End Tyger Communications_-

**-Greg Mathis-**

A massive explosion resounded throughout Arkham City as a missile was launched from Wonder Tower into the Steel Mill. Greg and the others felt the whole city shake as a result.

"What the hell?" Exclaimed Bill Garrett.

It wasn't over. Nearby Tyger choppers began firing their own missiles at the crowds of inmates, killing many of them instantly. The ground near Greg and the others was hit, sending both himself and Bill flying.

Greg stood up quickly and ran for cover, hoping to avoid the sight of the choppers.

**-Ty Hess-**

Ty slammed his fist into the gut of the Two-Face goon that was holding him, then drew his knife and slit the thug's throat. The others were all so focused on the missiles and trying to dodge them all that they barely noticed Ty as he ran around the front of the museum killing them all.

Grabbing one of the assault rifles from one of the bodies of the thugs, he gunned down the last three before they even saw him. The rest of the ex-Penguin thugs grabbed the remainder of the rifles.

"We're all probably dead anyway," Ty told them. "But at least we can take out some more of Two-Face's gang before it's finished."

The others didn't even agree, they just ran off, hopefully to kill off more of Two-Face's thugs.

Ty shot one of the thugs standing in the distance. _Maybe this'll work out for the better, but I know I'm dead anyway._

**-Matt Ferris-**

The subway terminal was located a little ways underground and through the sewers. Matt and four other members of Joker's crew were heading in its general direction, but for some reason they kept getting turned around.

"I think it was back that way," said Lewis Tyrell, a rather skilled navigator in his pre-criminal life.

"No, it was up ahead a few meters," Matt replied.

"I think I saw Croc back that way," someone said, "so odds are we shouldn't turn around and go back the other way."

"That's where I remember the terminal being," Lewis told them. "Man, where was it?"

"We won't find it by standing around here, let's keep moving." Matt pointed ahead and they kept moving in that general direction.

Hopefully they would be out of harm's way when they reached the subway station, but as the tunnel around them shook they began to have second and third thoughts.

**-Ty Hess-**

It was difficult trying to stay out of sight of the Tyger choppers. Not to mention that Strange was launching even heavier ordnance from Wonder Tower. The most recent one was focused itself on Two-Face's courthouse.

Ty was gunning down inmates left and right, not even caring if he was killed by a missile, gunfire, or some freak accident.

A wall exploded next to him at that moment, knocking him to the ground. For a minute, Ty couldn't hear a thing but he looked up just in time to see a group of missiles coming right for him. He was barely able to get up in time and run as explosions rocked the section of the Bowery that he stood in.

**-Matt Ferris-**

Croc had come out of nowhere and surprised Matt and the others as they rounded another corner. They had wandered a little too far from where they needed to be.

Lewis was grabbed and ripped in half in a heartbeat. Someone started firing, but that only seemed to make Killer Croc angrier as he charged right for them and knocked them all to the ground. A massive fist came down and crushed another inmate.

"Damn!" Yelled Matt and Croc was on him next. Matt swung a metal pipe with all of the strength he had. It connected with Croc's head and knocked it to one side, but Croc took out Matt with a single blow in response.

**-Greg Mathis-**

Hiding from the spotlights of the choppers was nearly impossible. Greg had actually seen one pursuing Batman not thirty seconds previously. While that had been happening, Greg had taken the opportunity to run to a new hiding place. Along the way, he passed plenty of corpses.

The roof of a building exploded, sending bits of debris down to the street below. It rained down on top of Greg, and one particularly large piece hit the top of his head with a sharp rap. He didn't have time to focus on it though as he was too busy trying to move while staying out of sight of the choppers.

A series of explosions told Greg that one of the choppers had obviously sighted him. The last thing he saw was a missile flying right for him.

**-Ty Hess-**

Ty chose to wait out the Protocol 10 sequence after several minutes of trying to dodge the missiles that Strange's choppers were firing. Most of the inmates in this part of Arkham City were dead, and Ty watched from a small alcove as Strange fired another missile from the tower. This one hit the museum.

Somehow the museum managed to survive the impact, but it was heavily damaged.

Then, a few minutes later, Ty decided that he would make a run for what he thought was a safer place. He stood cautiously and kept his eyes open.

At that moment, the top of Wonder Tower exploded. Ty looked up and saw a speck that must have been Batman come flying down like a bullet.

_Did Batman blow up Wonder Tower?_ Ty asked himself.

**(Afterthought: Forgive the speed at which this story progressed. It seems to be rather disconnected, but I've tweaked it as best as I can.)**


End file.
